Bitnami Alfresco Community for Google Cloud Platform

Description

Alfresco is an open source, Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system that includes a repository for all types of documents and records and an integrated business process management solution.

First steps with the Bitnami Alfresco Community Stack

Welcome to your new Bitnami application running on Google Cloud Platform! Here are a few questions (and answers!) you might need when first starting with your application.

What credentials do I need?

You need two sets of credentials:

The application credentials, consisting of a username and password. These credentials allow you to log in to your new Bitnami application.

The server credentials, consisting of an SSH username and key. These credentials allow you to log in to your Google Cloud Platform server using an SSH client and execute commands on the server using the command line.

What is the administrator username set for me to log in to the application for the first time?

How do I get my SSH key or password?

What are the default ports?

A port is an endpoint of communication in an operating system that identifies a specific process or a type of service. Bitnami stacks include several services or servers that require a port.

Remember that if you need to open some ports you can follow the instructions given in the FAQ to learn how to open the server ports for remote access.

Port 22 is the default port for SSH connections.

Bitnami opens some ports for the main servers. These are the ports opened by default: 80, 443.

How to start or stop the services?

Each Bitnami stack includes a control script that lets you easily stop, start and restart services. The script is located at /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh. Call it without any service name arguments to start all services:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start

Or use it to restart a single service, such as Apache only, by passing the service name as argument:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache

Use this script to stop all services:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop

Restart the services by running the script without any arguments:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart

Obtain a list of available services and operations by running the script without any arguments:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh

How to configure outbound email settings?

Google Cloud Platform doesn't allow SMTP traffic through default ports: 25, 465, 587. Check Google cloud documentation to learn how to use a VPN to bypass these restrictions or use a different port for sending emails from your application.

Outbound email configuration

To send emails from Alfresco via SMTP, specify the SMTP settings in the /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/shared/classes/alfresco-global.properties file. The following example shows how to configure Alfresco using a Gmail account. Replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with your Gmail account username and password respectively.

The Tomcat server is configured to run as the tomcat user and not the root user for security reasons. The problem with this configuration is that Tomcat then does not have privileges to bind port 25 (the SMTP port), so it becomes necessary to specify another port (2025 in the example above), and then create a port forwarding rule in the system to redirect all requests from port 25 to port 2025. Run the following command:

To configure the application to use other third-party SMTP services for outgoing email, such as SendGrid or Mandrill, refer to the FAQ.

Troubleshooting Gmail SMTP issues

If you are using Gmail as the outbound email server and you are not able to send email correctly, Google may be blocking sign-in attempts from your apps or devices. Depending on whether or not you use Google Apps, the steps to correct this will differ.

For Google Apps users

If you are a Google Apps user, you will need your administrator to allow users to change the policy for less secure apps. If you are a Google Apps administrator, follow these steps:

Look for the section "Less secure apps" and then click on "Go to settings for less secure apps".

Select "Allow users to manage their access to less secure apps".

For other Google users

If you do not use Google Apps, follow the steps in the following sections, depending on whether 2-step verification has been enabled on the account or not.

If 2-step verification has not been enabled on the account, follow these steps:

Browse to the "Less secure apps" page and log in using the account you are having problems with. This option is typically required by many popular email clients, such as Outlook and Thunderbird, and should not be considered unsafe.

Select the "Turn on" option.

If 2-step verification has been enabled on the account, you have to generate an app password. Follow these steps:

How to install a plugin on Alfresco?

Alfresco has package modules (AMPs) which can be installed on top of the basic application.

To install any AMP on top of the Bitnami Alfresco Stack, follow the steps below. This example installs the Alfresco Records Management Module.

Download the module and extract the files.

Move the AMP file to the /opt/bitnami/apps/alfresco/amps or the /opt/bitnami/apps/alfresco/amps_share directory.

$ sudo mv *.amp /opt/bitnami/apps/alfresco/amps

Stop the Apache Tomcat server.

$ cd /opt/bitnami
$ sudo ./ctlscript.sh stop tomcat

Run the apply_amps command in the root Alfresco directory.

$ cd /opt/bitnami/apps/alfresco
$ sudo ./apply_amps.sh

Change the permissions of the new WAR files.

$ sudo chown -R tomcat:tomcat /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/webapps

Start the Apache Tomcat server.

$ cd /opt/bitnami
$ sudo ./ctlscript start tomcat

How to create a full backup of Alfresco Community?

Backup

The Bitnami Alfresco Community Stack is self-contained and the simplest option for performing a backup is to copy or compress the Bitnami stack installation directory. To do so in a safe manner, you will need to stop all servers, so this method may not be appropriate if you have people accessing the application continuously.

Follow these steps:

Change to the directory in which you wish to save your backup:

$ cd /your/directory

Stop all servers:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop

Create a compressed file with the stack contents:

$ sudo tar -pczvf application-backup.tar.gz /opt/bitnami

Restart all servers:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start

You should now download or transfer the application-backup.tar.gz file to a safe location.

Restore

Follow these steps:

Change to the directory containing your backup:

$ cd /your/directory

Stop all servers:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh stop

Move the current stack to a different location:

$ sudo mv /opt/bitnami /tmp/bitnami-backup

Uncompress the backup file to the original directoryv

$ sudo tar -pxzvf application-backup.tar.gz -C /

Start all servers:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh start

If you want to create only a database backup, refer to these instructions for MySQL and PostgreSQL.

How to upgrade Alfresco?

It is strongly recommended that you create a backup before starting the update process. If you have important data, it is advisable that you create and try to restore a backup to ensure that everything works properly.

An in-place upgrade of the Bitnami Alfresco Stack is not recommended. Instead, the correct procedure is to install a new version of the stack and then transfer the existing content repository to it.

NOTE: The steps below assume that you have already installed a new version of the stack and have access to both the older version (which contains data to be migrated) and the newer version (which contains no data).

Obtain the current database password by viewing the contents of the Alfresco configuration file at /opt/bitnami/apps/alfresco/apache-tomcat/shared/classes/alfresco-global.properties and noting the value of the db.password field. You should see something like this:

Remove the existing Alfresco database and create a new one, then grant access to the bitnami database user. Replace the DATABASE_PASSWORD placeholder in the final command with the database password obtained in the previous step.

How to create an SSL certificate for Apache Tomcat?

How to enable HTTPS support with SSL certificates?

NOTE: The steps below assume that you are using a custom domain name and that you have already configured the custom domain name to point to your cloud server.

Bitnami images come with SSL support already pre-configured and with a dummy certificate in place. Although this dummy certificate is fine for testing and development purposes, you will usually want to use a valid SSL certificate for production use. You can either generate this on your own (explained here) or you can purchase one from a commercial certificate authority.

Once you obtain the certificate and certificate key files, you will need to update your server to use them. Follow these steps to activate SSL support:

Use the table below to identify the correct locations for your certificate and configuration files.

NOTE: If you use different names for your certificate and key files, you should reconfigure the SSLCertificateFile and SSLCertificateKeyFile directives in the corresponding Apache configuration file to reflect the correct file names.

If your certificate authority has also provided you with a PEM-encoded Certificate Authority (CA) bundle, you must copy it to the correct location in the previous table. Then, modify the Apache configuration file to include the following line below the SSLCertificateKeyFile directive. Choose the correct directive based on your scenario and Apache version:

Variable

Value

Apache configuration file

/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/bitnami/bitnami.conf

Directive to include (Apache v2.4.8+)

SSLCACertificateFile "/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server-ca.crt"

Directive to include (Apache < v2.4.8)

SSLCertificateChainFile "/opt/bitnami/apache2/conf/server-ca.crt"

NOTE: If you use a different name for your CA certificate bundle, you should reconfigure the SSLCertificateChainFile or SSLCACertificateFile directives in the corresponding Apache configuration file to reflect the correct file name.

Once you have copied all the server certificate files, you may make them readable by the root user only with the following commands:

How to create an SSL certificate?

OpenSSL is required to create an SSL certificate. A certificate request can then be sent to a certificate authority (CA) to get it signed into a certificate, or if you have your own certificate authority, you may sign it yourself, or you can use a self-signed certificate (because you just want a test certificate or because you are setting up your own CA).

Note that if you use this encrypted key in the Apache configuration file, it will be necessary to enter the password manually every time Apache starts. Regenerate the key without password protection from this file as follows:

How to debug Apache errors?

Once Apache starts, it will create two log files at /opt/bitnami/apache2/logs/access_log and /opt/bitnami/apache2/logs/error_log respectively.

The access_log file is used to track client requests. When a client requests a document from the server, Apache records several parameters associated with the request in this file, such as: the IP address of the client, the document requested, the HTTP status code, and the current time.

The error_log file is used to record important events. This file includes error messages, startup messages, and any other significant events in the life cycle of the server. This is the first place to look when you run into a problem when using Apache.

How to change the Java memory settings?

You can increase these Java settings for your application if necessary. The settings are in the /opt/bitnami/java/bitnami/setenv.sh file. Here is an example of how to change the memory settings:

$ export JAVA_OPTS="$JAVA_OPTS -Xms256M -Xmx768M"

IMPORTANT: This file is a symlink to a configuration file that changes depending on the instance type that you are currently using. The symlink will be automatically changed when you resize your server.

How to debug errors in Tomcat?

The main Apache Tomcat configuration file is at /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/conf/server.xml.

Once Apache Tomcat starts, it will create several log files in the /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/logs directory. The main log file is the catalina.out file where you can find error messages. On some platforms, you may need root account privileges to view these files.

Updating the IP address or hostname

Alfresco Community requires updating the IP address/domain name if the machine IP address/domain name changes. The bnconfig tool also has an option which updates the IP address, called --machine_hostname (use --help to check if that option is available for your application). Note that this tool changes the URL to http://NEW_DOMAIN/alfresco.

NOTE: Be sure that your domain is propagated. Otherwise, this will not work. You can verify the new DNS record by using the Global DNS Propagation Checker and entering your domain name into the search field.

You can also change your hostname by modifying it in your hosts file. Enter the new hostname using your preferred editor.

$ sudo nano /etc/hosts

Add a new line with the IP address and the new hostname. Here's an example. Remember to replace the IP-ADDRESS and DOMAIN placeholders with the correct IP address and domain name.

IP-ADDRESS DOMAIN

How to connect instances hosted in separate virtual networks or VPCs?

The Google Cloud Platform makes it possible to connect instances hosted in separate Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs), even if those instances belong to different projects or are hosted in different regions. This feature, known as VPC Network Peering, can result in better security (as services do not need to be exposed on public IP addresses) and performance (due to use of private, rather than public, networks and IP addresses).

How to upload files to the server with SFTP?

Although you can use any SFTP/SCP client to transfer files to your server, the link below explains how to configure FileZilla (Windows, Linux and Mac OS X), WinSCP (Windows) and Cyberduck (Mac OS X). It is required to use your server's private SSH key to configure the SFTP client properly. Choose your preferred application and follow the steps in the link below to connect to the server through SFTP.

How to configure a redirect for main page to /share?

Alfresco runs at the /share URL by default. To add a simple redirection from your main domain to the /share application, add the following line to the beginning of the /opt/bitnami/apps/alfresco/conf/httpd-app.conf file:

Redirect / /share

Then, restart Apache:

$ sudo /opt/bitnami/ctlscript.sh restart apache

How to enable CIFS and/or FTP for Alfresco?

To enable CIFS in Alfresco, open port 445.

To enable FTP in Alfresco, install the vsftpd FTP server:

Debian:

$ sudo apt-get install vsftpd

CentOS:

$ sudo yum install vsftpd

Then, open port 21 and comment out the following line in the /etc/vsftpd.conf file:

#listen_address=127.0.0.1

Then, restart the vsftpd server:

Debian:

$ sudo service vsftpd restart

CentOS:

$ systemctl restart vsftpd.service

Refer to the FAQ for more information on how to open ports in the server firewall.

You might see this error when binding the CIFS port in the Tomcat/Alfresco log file:

This occurs when Alfresco tries to start a SMB/CIFS server using a port number below 1024, and that operation is not allowed for normal users. To fix this, edit the /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/shared/classes/alfresco-global.properties file and uncomment these lines:

Alfresco Office Services allow you to edit documents in Alfresco using Microsoft Office. To activate this support, follow these steps:

Log in to your server console.

Download and extract the Alfresco Office Services AMP file to the amps/ directory of the Bitnami Alfresco Stack. Note that the AMP file is packaged within a .zip file, so it needs to be extracted before proceeding to the next step.

Execute the apply_amps.sh command to install the AMP file:

$ cd /opt/bitnami/apps/alfresco/
$ sudo ./apply_amps.sh

This will install all available AMP files to the correct location. A status message will appear to indicate progress.

Check that the AOS AMP file has been installed by running the following command:

Microsoft Office SharePoint Protocol Support allows you to edit documents in Alfresco using Microsoft Office. To install it, download the package from the Alfresco official site. The instructions below use Alfresco v4.2.f, but similar steps can be followed for other versions.

With these commands, the Microsoft Office SharePoint Protocol support will be installed in the Bitnami Alfresco Stack. The default port configured is 7070. To change this port, edit the configuration files at /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/webapps/share/WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/module/org.alfresco.module.vti/context/vti.properties and /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/webapps/alfresco/WEB-INF/classes/alfresco/module/org.alfresco.module.vti/context/vti.properties.

Open port 7070 in the server firewall.

After this, you will be able to access the Alfresco SharePoint module by browsing to http://DOMAIN:7070/.

Open Alfresco files directly using Microsoft Word. Click "Open" and insert the URL in the "File Name" field.

How to enable Google Docs integration with Alfresco?

Since Bitnami Alfresco v4.2.c-1, you can easily enable Alfresco integration with Google Docs.

NOTE: Before you enable Google Docs integration, set up a Google Docs account that will be used for administrative purposes for the integration between Alfresco and Google Docs.

Edit the /opt/bitnami/apache-tomcat/shared/classes/alfresco-global.properties file and set the following options. Replace USERNAME and PASSWORD with your Gmail account username and password respectively.